We’ve listed our top 5 Tes teaching and learning articles from the past year on education around the world.
What can Singapore teach us about education in England?
While many have tried to copy specific Singaporean approaches to teaching, examining how the nation’s schools function can also help other countries to reflect on their own ways of working, finds Zofia Niemtus in this feature from December 2024.
“Singapore is consistently one of the highest-performing countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tables, once again topping the boards for science, reading and maths in the most recent edition (2022),” Niemtus writes.
“So, what are the key bits of the Singaporean system that provide the most interesting stimulus for thinking in England and in other countries, too?” In the article, Niemtus rounds up six key takeaways.
Read the article here.
The evolution of ‘no excuses’ behaviour approaches
“No excuses” behaviour approaches have diversified hugely since their inception in US charter schools, with significant variety in practice across different schools and the impact tough to pin down, finds Holly Korbey, in this feature from January.
The approach is said to stem from “Broken Windows Theory”, which was generated by two Harvard police researchers in the 1980s, Korbey explains.
“They argued that neighbourhoods with fewer signs of small-scale chaos and disorder - like no trash on pavements or no broken windows - made residents feel safer and appeared to help discourage larger disorders like crime,” she writes.
It was believed that something similar might be possible in classrooms, but recent research has “discredited much of the Broken Windows Theory”, Korbey writes. “So,” she asks, “how are those no-excuses approaches faring in schools now?”
Read the article here.
Why US schools have fallen in love with scripted lessons
A mix of necessity, ideology and circumstance is driving a widespread adoption of scripting in US classrooms, finds Holly Korbey, in this feature from March.
“Scripting is not new in the US. As with much of American schooling, scripted lessons have swung back and forth on the pendulum of popularity over the past few decades,” writes Korbey. “But today’s version of this pendulum swing looks a little different than in the past.”
For instance, she says, “in Houston, Texas, turnaround schools taken over by the state are breaking lessons down into seconds - for example: 10 seconds to log on to a laptop, one minute to read a passage, 30 seconds to pair-and-share with a partner.”
The cause, Korbey finds, is “a perfect storm of factors pointing teachers toward a more exacting approach to teaching and learning”.
Read the article here.
How Estonia became education’s newest rising star
Estonia is one of Pisa’s biggest success stories, but what’s behind the country’s impressive results? Henry Hepburn finds out in an exclusive interview with education minister Kristina Kallas, which was published in May.
In the most recent round of Pisa data, published in December 2023, Estonia was top in Europe for maths and science, and second (behind Ireland) for reading. Then, in June 2024, it emerged that Estonia had also come out on top in Europe for a Pisa test of creative thinking.
According to Kallas, the country’s success cannot be separated from the fact that education is the “core basis of national identity”.
“Being Estonian means being educated,” Kallas tells Hepburn.
Read the article here.
Why phonics hasn’t won the reading wars - yet
While phonics is now universal in England’s schools, in other English-speaking countries the battle over the best way to teach reading is far from won. In this feature from June, Holly Korbey investigates why.
“New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Canada and the US have all made some progress towards the science of reading with a range of new laws, policies and curricula - but phonics instruction isn’t universal, for a variety of reasons,” writes Korbey.
“Some areas are still engaged in reading wars arguments, while others struggle with the rollout of teacher training and curriculum. And even when laws, policies and guidance point to phonics as the winning, evidence-based approach, there’s still foot dragging, fights over details and confusion.”
Read the article here.
You can now get the UK’s most-trusted source of education news in a mobile app. Get Tes magazine on and on
